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Diocese of Bremen
The Diocese of Bremen was a Roman Catholic Bishopric and Archbishopric based in Bremen, Germany. The Bishopric existed from 804 until 848, and the Archbishopric existed from 1223 until 1648. Bishopric (804 - 848) After the Emperor Charlemagne had conquered Saxony, St Willehad had begun to preach Christianity in the region around the Lower Weser and Elbe. In 787 he was consecrated the bishop of that region of Saxony and Frisia and chose Bremen as the capital of his see. He built a cathedral there which was dedicated in 789 and was praised by St Anschar. However it was only St Willehad's successor, St Willerich who established the diocese of Bremen. After the death of the third Bishop, Leuderich in 845, the Synod of Mainz in 848 merged the diocese of Bremen with the Archbishopric of Hamburg which had been founded in 831. Archbishopric of Bremen (1223 - 1648) The Archbishopric of Bremen existed from 1223 until 1648, although the last Catholic bishop died in 1558. After the Emperor Charlemagne had conquered Saxony, St Willehad had begun to preach Christianity in the region around the Lower Weser and Elbe. In 787 he was consecrated the bishop of that region of Saxony and Frisia and chose Bremen as the capital of his see. He built a cathedral there which was dedicated in 789 and was praised by St Anschar. However it was only St Willehad's successor, St Willerich who established the diocese of Bremen. After the death of the third Bishop, Leuderich in 845, the Synod of Mainz in 848 merged the diocese of Bremen with the Archbishopric of Hamburg which had been founded in 831. In 967 the Archbishops obtained comital rights over the city of Bremen, laying the foundations for the Prince-Archbishopric. Dispute emerged between the two cathedral chapters at Hamburg and Bremen, and in 1223 the diocese was officially moved to Bremen by Gerard II of Lippe (1219 - 1258). Gerard II also managed to confirm the possession of the Archbishops of the County of Stade and defined the borders of the temporal lands of the archdiocese from the lower Weser and the lower Elbe, and with a small territory on the Elbes' right bank. Later archbishops lacked the competence, or even piety, of Gerard. The city of Bremen grew to become a thriving trade centre, and the citizens of the city began to chafe under the rule of the archbishops. Several archbishops bankrupted the archdiocese and made enemies of powerful neighbours. Other, more competent, archbishops were also bishops elsewhere and so spent most of the time and energy on their other dioceses. So it was that when the Reformation was first preached in Bremen, most of the inhabitants of the archdiocese quickly converted to the new faith, despite the attempts of Archbishop Christopher of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1511 - 1558) to stop it. After Christopher's death, the now largely Lutheran chapter elected his Protestant brother George of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1558 - 1566), beginning a line of successive Calvinist archbishops. In 1625 during the Thirty Years' War the archdiocese was given over to Catholics, but the Imperial soldiers were forced to abandon the country in 1632 in the face of Swedish soldiers. Catholicism was again rooted out. In 1648 the archdiocese was secularised as a duchy and was given to Sweden. Bremen Category:Diocese of Bremen